Northern Alliance captures Kandahar: Envoy

A top Afghan envoy Ibragim Khikmat said on Wednesday that Northern Alliance troops have captured the Taleban southern stronghold of Kandahar

Khikmat is the Northern Alliance's government-in-exile ambassador to Tajiskistan, and is based in the capital Dushanbe.

"The people staged an uprising. Northern Alliance forces have taken control, there are no Taleban soldies left in Kandahar," Khikmat, told reporters

Meanwhile, an agency report quoting a senior Northern Alliance leader Younis Qanooni said the Alliance wanted a broad-based, multi-ethnic interim government, and added that the Alliance has plans to hold elections after two years.

Diplomatic efforts to put in place an interim government for Afghanistan have gained new momentum since the Northern Alliance captured Kabul from the Taleban Islamic militia on Tuesday.